The Washington Post is finally going to provide weekly updates (on Sundays) on the regional housing market. They're also encouraging questions and comments.
Here are some excerpts from today's issue:
There are 40,409 new, single-family houses on the market in the Maryland and Virginia suburbs, according to Hanley Wood Market Intelligence, a construction-industry research company. That doesn't include condominiums, which are certainly in flush supply, or even townhouses. And nearly one-third of that unsold inventory sits in just two jurisdictions, Prince George's and Loudoun counties.
"Builders and developers have more inventory than they've had in recent memory, at least in a decade," said Charles Browning, publisher of New Homes Guide, an advertising magazine distributed free to home shoppers. (The magazine is published by a subsidiary of The Washington Post Co.)
. . .
Until this backlog of unsold new homes is cleared, it will remain a tough market for owners trying to sell their gently used homes.
2 comments:
Hi Harriet,
Interesting article and good for the business section. Wow. 40,000 in the greater Metro area!
On another note, I think the rest of the real estate news ought to be in HOMES on Thursdays or the Saturday REAL ESTATE section. Why in heavens name is there an article about Kitchen Sinks in the Business section. Just plain dumb.
Merv,
I totally agree with you. Real Estate and Kitchen Sink (news) certainly belong in the Real Estate section.
I wondered about the "shadowy" new homes number. Toll Brothers, for example, is gearing up to build 150 new houses in Warrenton. It will take several years for them to build out the site, because they need to build a water plant. Right next door is a completely similar "used" NV Homes development. The last sale in there happened in February, 2006. Not one buyer has purchased a home there in over a year, although half a dozen are on the market at any given time.
Pulte is also finding it slow-going to sell their remaining homes in Warrenton. (Just a handful, at this point).
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